GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The LSU men’s basketball team off wins at Vanderbilt and at home against number 9 Kentucky now tries to keep the momentum going forward here at the O’Connell Center Saturday afternoon against the Gators of the University of Florida.
For the first time this season, the Tigers are playing on CBS and the game is set to tip at 12:30 p.m. CT (1:30 p.m. ET) with Spero Dedes and Doug Gottleib on the call. Jim Hawthorne will make his final visit to the O’Connell Center and will be joined by analyst Ricky Blanton and studio host Kevin Ford on the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge).
LSU is 9-5 and 2-0 in the SEC, while Florida is 9-5 and 1-1 in the league after an 83-69 loss at Tennessee on Wednesday night.
Feinswog: Tigers Are ‘Just Jelling’
The Tigers’ Tim Quarterman flirted with a triple double in the contest with 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Craig Victor (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Ben Simmons (14 points, 10 rebounds) also had double doubles in Tuesday’s 18-point win over No. 9 Kentucky. It marked the first time LSU had three players with double doubles since the Jan. 14, 2015, game at Ole Miss (Josh Gray, Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey).
However, it was the first time three players have had double doubles of points and rebounds since Harold Boudreaux, Vernel Singleton and Shaquille O’Neal posted that versus Nicholls State on Dec. 10, 1991.
Quarterman also earned national recognition for his game by ESPN Stats and Info reporting after the game that the LSU junior joined Denzel Valentine (Michigan State) as the only two players with a game of at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against a Top 25 opponent this season.
Like the first three games of the season, the game in Florida marks a second straight year playing at the O’Connell Center. But LSU, led by Jarell Martin with 22 points, was a 79-61 winner. Keith Hornsby had 14 in that game for LSU.
Florida found itself on the short end in the first half at Tennessee as the Gators shot just 11-of-33, while the Vols were connecting on 20-of-39 shots to build a 53-31 halftime advantage. The Gators were able to shave eight points off the margin in the second half, but shot just 34.3 percent in the game (24-of-70). KeVaughn Allen led Florida with 18 points, while Devin Robinson added 13, Dorian Finney-Smith 12 and Justin Leon 11. Florida had 16 assists for its 24 baskets in the game, but had 14 turnovers and was out rebounds, 49-40.
Florida defeated Georgia in the O’Connell Center, 77-63, on Jan. 2 in its SEC opener.
Finney-Smith is the team’s leading scorer at 13.1 points per game with Robinson at 11.1 points per contest.
Mike White, who coached for four years with success at Louisiana Tech, is in his first year as head coach at Florida. He also has seven years in the league as an assistant at Ole Miss.
Following the trip here Saturday, the Tigers are back home for two games next week, hosting Ole Miss at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Arkansas at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 16.
Follow updates on LSU Basketball on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and on Twitter @LSUBasketball.
Coach Johnny Jones met with the media on Thursday regarding the Kentucky and Florida contests and here are some of his comments:
Opening Statement…
“After an exciting night of basketball on Tuesday, we were able to take (Wednesday) off, finally. It’s been a while since we’ve had a day off. It came at a great time. We are getting back at practice (Thursday) and are starting to really prepare the team and getting them ready for a tough challenge Saturday afternoon at Florida, against a very good basketball team. We are excited about our growth, especially over the last two games and the way that our guys have performed. We are hopeful that we can continue at that rate. With the health issues, having a day off was helpful for us. I look forward to getting with the guys and starting our preparation.”
On the offensive flow…
“It’s getting used to it and having an understanding for our offensive flow. Before, Tim (Quarterman) was primarily our ball handler and initiated our offense out of our break. When Tim’s bringing it up, it’s having an idea of our spacing, execution and all of those things that really need to take place. It happens so quickly out there on the floor. That’s been good for us. Both of those guys (Tim and Ben Simmons) have the ability to feed off of each other. It’s a great weapon to have. It allows us to really get the ball up the floor quicker in a sense. Having two good decision makers out there has been good.”
On Tim Quarterman‘s consistency…
“I think what Keith (Hornsby) is alluding to is consistency in terms of his play. You’ve seen where (Tim)’s had some really good games for us. (Quarterman) has the ability to impact the game not on just one end of the floor but defensively as well. That’s what we have to look for. He doesn’t have to be scoring. He has the ability to pass and create opportunities for others in a sense like Ben (Simmons). Simmons doesn’t necessarily have to score to have an impact on the game. Quarterman has the ability to do that with assists, rebounding, defensively and those things.”
On what has been the most improved aspect in the past two games…
“It’s been a combination of things. Defensively, we’ve played better and rebounding the basketball has been a big plus for us. Any time you can win the war on the boards, you give yourself a good chance of winning. If we can hold teams to a low field goal percentage, which is what we did against a good Vandy shooting team and they only had three offensive rebounds, with that combination, it gives us a chance to be successful. That is two of the key areas, defense and rebounding. Our offense has been clicking. We can score a lot a ways, either out of half court sets or our defense creates a lot of opportunities for us offensively too because of our fast break.”
On Craig Victor II…
“We’ve been missing Craig and his presence on the floor with everything he brings to our team. Defensively, he’s a guy that certainly can give us a nice presence in the paint. Offensively, he gives us the ability to have a decent flow because he can step away from the basket, he can pass it out to our guards, he can handle it out on the floor, high-low action with Ben (Simmons) and he has the ability to shoot it as well. He’s not afraid to go inside and play with his back to the basket. He’s shooting a high percentage for us. He’s been better at the free throw line since his first night out where he had a tough night at the free throw line. He’s been really good from the line since then. There are a lot of pluses for Craig. The big thing is he brings a sense of urgency and toughness to our team, which allows our other guys to be confident in a lot of areas.”
On Florida and differences between Billy Donovan and Mike White …
“They’re similar. Both of them like to pick up full court and extend their defense. Mike White does a lot of that. They score early. They’ll take a lot of shots and create a lot of their offense from what they do on the defensive end of the floor. There are some similarities in what they do. Their offense is a little different from what they normally run. In terms of defensively and playing man-to-man and those things, we will see some similarities there.”
On Craig Victor II helping teammates…
“The confidence helps with our team along with Craig and Keith Hornsby, both of those guys bring a sense of urgency and a sense of toughness. Both of those guys display that when they are out on the floor. They are not being the bad guys but how hard they play and how they get after it. They do the dirty work. They don’t mind it. In a sense when Craig is out on the floor, he’s letting Ben (Simmons) know I got you. Don’t worry about it. I can get the dirty work done down here. I’ll be that guy for you. Your team needs that. We are glad that Craig is able to provide that. A lot of times, it rubs off on a lot of your other teammates, be it, Keith Hornsby diving from the top of the key and sliding out of bounds. It’s an infectious thing. Guys have a tendency to look for the next guy because of the reaction and play that they will back up and do again.”
On improvements to make from the Kentucky game…
“I didn’t think we were hitting on all cylinders. We have some guys who are on the perimeter that are very capable shooters that maybe had some good looks and didn’t knock them down. We know that’s something that can come. We had some areas where we weren’t as clean as we would like to be in that game. We know we are not going to play a perfect game, but we want to make sure we are executing at a high level. When we are able to do that and get an 18-point win, unless the shots weren’t made, we aren’t lacking execution because we got good looks. It says a lot. When we do start hitting on all cylinders, it’s really exciting for us.”
On winning in Gainesville last year …
“We had two guys that made a huge impact last year. Unfortunately, neither is here in Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin. Both of those guys really made a huge impact on that game on both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively. Hornsby and those other guys, we clicked that game. We hit a bunch of perimeter shots. We were really good on the defensive end. Florida made a run on us late, and we were able to handle the run. We stayed poised under the pressure they presented. That was the first time they’d lost a conference game in quite some time at home. We were able to break that streak. We are hopeful that we are going in there with the same mindset, but we are going to have to play better because we are a little bit different of a team than we were then. They’re a different team as well, but they have a lot of those players back. They have several McDonald’s All-American guys on that team. They’re extremely talented. Certainly, they look forward to that challenge as well.”